Primal Challenge Journal (Welshcaveman) page 2

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 10

Wt - 192lbs (-7.5lbs)


FOOD

-cheese and onion omlette, streaky bacon, 3 beef burgers, 1 big cumberland sausage (burgers and sausage made by the local butcher, not some idiot in a factory somewhere)


Fitday

2,145kcals

152g fat

23g carbs

171g protein


EXERCISE

-walked 3 miles

-did an hour and a bit of hammer throw training


NOTES

-My lurve handles have definitely tightened up and I feel like there should be mvmt on the scale again soon. I could, however, be completely wrong.

-nice walk today; again, I had some jobs to do - go to the doctors to get him to sign a medical disclosure document for university, and then on to the flooring shop to price up. I would ALWAYS have driven before (did a routeplanner, and it's a little more than 3 mile round trip) but decided to be all caveman about it and walk. Felt good and loosened my quads up (a little stiff from squats and yesterdays up-hill sprints).

-Throwing is great fun - a lot more technical than I thought but back and core feel throughly worked. I wasn't terrible at it either, which is nice.


-diet... strange things happening here. More on that in a bit. I know meat choices aren't perfect (sausage and burgers for Gods sake!) but they are relatively good ones (made of real meat, don't shrivel up, not much leaks out of them when cooking) so I'm going with it til they're gone.


Onto the weird stuff... I noticed it yesterday and then got it confirmed today. For the past two days when I've stepped on the scales I've been hoping for some weight loss. This is not strange.

However, my hope for the scale to say <190lbs is not because I desperately want a pizza and cookies. This IS strange.


Earlier in the week, when I jumped on and realised I couldn&#39;t have naughty food that day, I was gutted and seriously wondering how to get through the day without giving in to cravings. Now, it&#39;s a shrug of the shoulders and onto my omlette.


So.. the craving for sugars and pizza appears to be gone and... I&#39;m not sure how I feel about it!! I love pizza, doughnuts and cookies and had hoped against hope that PB would be a way of eating that was sustainable enough that I could hang on long enough, for 7-10 days for instance, before having a free, no-hold-barred meal. Now I&#39;m not bothered about having one.


This is obviously great news in that temptation isn&#39;t an issue, and I don&#39;t want to be the idiot bitching because he got what he wanted... but, dammit, I&#39;m going to miss those foods!


Maybe I&#39;ll feel different when I get under 190 and give myself the green light to "cheat", but the fact I had <25g carbs today didn&#39;t even register til I put it through fitday.


Feeling brilliant, but wish my damn book would arrive!

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 11

Wt - 192lbs (-7.5lbs)


FOOD

-mushroom, onion and cheese omlette, streaky bacon, burger and pork sausage.

Fitday

1,952kcals

140g fat

18g carbs

159f protein


EXERCISE

-none really, just stretched a bit.


NOTES

-Dammit!!! No weight loss. I felt sure something would happen today. I&#39;ve got to assume most of the 7.5lbs is water because of the speed it came off - 7.5 in 11 days is good, 0.5lbs in the last 5 is not!

-Having declared myself craving free last night, I woke up desperate for... well, I wasn&#39;t sure what, but it had to be a cheat food! Went to the shop and went to the sweets/bakery section deciding I would, in all probability have a cookie or a pastry. I just didn&#39;t fancy any of it and walked out with nothing but my trusty coke zero (something else I need to give up at some stage).

-upper back good and sore from hammer last night, core also knows it was worked.


I have sort of allowed for a cheat tomorrow. I&#39;m heading to London by coach to pick up my brothers car and it is an unspoken rule that we have to eat crap when we meet up! To try and limit damage, or atleast know what I was doing to myself, I went onto the KFC website (his junk of choice) to get their nutritional info and was pleasantly surprised. Don&#39;t get me wrong, it&#39;s not ideal and I remember hearing that their chickens aren&#39;t exactly free range, but I thought they&#39;d be a lot worse.


I&#39;ve added it to fitday now and planned ahead tomorrow. With my big ass omlette in the morning to stave off any temptation of eating service station rubbish en route, and half a variety bucket (minus the fries), I&#39;ll come out at <1800kcal, and under 70g carbs with just enough protein and fat to be more or less what I&#39;m currently having. Hell, I can have some gravy and be under 80g carbs.


Bought "Good Calories, Bad Calories" (or it&#39;s softback title over here, "the Diet Delusion") - I thought they were different books but had them both open and are word for word the same so went for the cheaper paperback! It&#39;s mentioned here a lot but I stumbled onto a zero-carb forum and it&#39;s their bible so thought I&#39;d give it a try while I wait for the PB to get here.

[Welshcaveman]

Couple of days away picking up a car from by brothers place... so a catch up


DAY 12

191lbs (-8.5lbs)


Didn&#39;t eat in the morning to offset planned cheat in the evening - KFC


DAY 13

no weighing today


NOTES

- please with the drop to 191lbs. Going to weight every couple of days instead of every day from here on in.

- Felt terrible after my cheat meal, ended up having a bag of fries too and it really opened a door to cravings. Didn&#39;t go too nuts though and starting to feel better now.


Start uni tomorrow so plan is to load up on eggs in the morning and then do some shopping on the way home. Got chicken and rabbit but need to get some red meat going!

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 14

Wt - didn&#39;t check


FOOD

-cheese and onion omlette, roast beef.

Fitday

1,064kcals

75g fat

7g carbs

88g protein


EXERCISE

-walked about a mile


NOTES

-Still feeling a bit rough from the cheat meal when I woke up so decided to take a fast for 24 hours, which was relatively easy because today was my first day at university so had lots to keep me preoccupied! Was hungry when I tucked in though.

-obviously, calories and protein levels too low but used today as a bit of a counterbalance to the excesses of Saturday and will be back onto normal, uber-low carbs tomorrow but calories will be around 1800.

-will weigh tomorrow to see the extent of the damage.


Nearly halfway through the 30 day challenge (although I&#39;m not really viewing it as either a 30 day thing, or a challenge!)


I seem to be naturally tending towards extremely low carbs (except for onions, no "carb" foods at all). I&#39;ll have to read up on the pros and cons of this, but it is just what my body is asking for (ignoring, of course, odd requests for apple pie).

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 15

Weight - 190lbs (-9.5lbs)


FOOD

-cheese and onion omlette, pork and steak

Fitday

1,955kcals

138g fat

12g carbs

163g protein


EXERCISE


Power Clean

1x3 @ 75kg


Deadlift

1x20 @ 90kg


Chins

3x6 @ BW+10kg


Bent-over Row

3x8 @ 70kg


Barbell Curl

3x8 @ 35kg


NOTES

-Pleased (and a little surprised) at the weight loss!

-Got quite hungry after training, eating me some steak now.

-Only did the one set of power cleans because the bloody bar was slightly bent (which means no perfect bars left, and really throws you off on the catch).


-Going with a 20-rep compound move twice a week: the theory is it stimulates growth hormone and maximises effects of other work done in the session. Plus, it screws you up enough that you can&#39;t do that much more so sessions are brief and intense by necessity.


-Have done a bit more reading on the nearly zero carb thing and there seems to be quite a community of carnivores who swear by it. Those who are sportsmen/athletes do tend to be distance runners though so not sure how it would effect power training. More reading required.

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 16

Wt - 189.5lbs (-10lbs)


FOOD

-steak, eggs, pork, steak.

Fitday

1,921kcals

122g fat

10g carbs

188g protein


EXERCISE

just walking around campus for twenty minutes


NOTES

-have now reached the magical 10lb lost mark, and also cracked the 190lb barrier!

-jeans now very loose and becoming annoying. Holding off on buying new ones for a while because I&#39;m hoping for another 15lbs before stabilising and don&#39;t want to buy twice. Belt is a must if I&#39;m going to avoid a nasty accident.

-no exercise apart from wandering around campus today; posterior chain good and sore from yesterday, biceps also full and acing. Will be throwing hammer tomorrow and maybe a bit of discus so leaving weights til Friday or Saturday.

[hfox]

Welshcaveman, just wanted to drop in and let you know that I&#39;m impressed with your progress!


Keep up the good work and keep up this journal--it&#39;s an interesting read!


Looks like you&#39;re doing everything right.

[Welshcaveman]

thanks very much hfox - good of you to chime in!


Here&#39;s to the next 10lbs

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 17

Wt - 188.5lbs (-11lbs)


FOOD

-steak, eggs, sausages, bit of cheese

Fitday

2,307kcals

170g fat

12g carbs

178g protein


EXERCISE

-hammer throwing for an hour this evening.


NOTES

-Another lb overnight! Very weird how I got stuck for seemingly ages (but in reality only 3-4 days) where I was stuck at 192.5lbs, but now I am seeing 0.5-1lb per day. Obviously can&#39;t keep up that rate but it is gratifying.

-Having said that, for the first time I have started feeling hungry despite calories and fat being about the same. With that in mind. I&#39;m upping calories to 2,000-2,200 target rather than 1800-2000.


Weight training tomorrow, then Saturday I&#39;m going to enjoy my "20%" with a pizza hut. Although it seems carbs open the door to carb craving, I think I&#39;ve got the self-discipline now to handle a cheat meal without spiralling out of control.

[Welshcaveman]

DAY 18

Wt - 188.5lbs (-11lbs)


FOOD

cheese and onion omlette, steak x 2, sausage

Fitday

2,386kcals

149g fat

8.5g carbs

240g protein


EXERCISE

None


NOTES

-book arrived today so will go through that this evening for troubleshooting but seems to be going well. I&#39;m deviating in as much as I&#39;m not really eating any fruit/veg but I just don&#39;t fancy it and seeings how I have NEVER felt healthier, I&#39;ll probably just roll with it for now.

-no weight loss today but thats fine - was worried I might be losing muscle along with the power belly. Specifically, there&#39;s a tyre that sits right around my belly button which looks like it will be last to go.

-having a free meal tomorrow, which will be pizza hut and maybe a doughnut. I&#39;ll fitday it all to keep things relatively calm.